If Loving You Is Wrong

By: Gregg Olsen

Narrated by: Kathleen Godwin

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Within hours of giving birth to her sixth child, Mary Kay Letourneau had her baby daughter whisked from her arms. She was then shackled and returned to her jail cell. Just years before, the pretty, personable Seattle schoolteacher was living a life many would envy - she had a handsome husband, four beautiful children, and a beloved following of students. Then she was accused of raping one of her students, and her whole world turned upside down.

Was she a rapist or a victim? How did a 34-year-old married teacher fall in love with one of her sixth grade students? Was it a complete lapse of judgment, or - as she contends - the meeting of two soul mates? Were the two planning on running away together, before police caught them in a parked car? Did the couple have illicit sex in every room of the Letourneau house, as the teenager told the tabloids?

Listen and learn about the case that shocked the world and rocked the headlines - about the lonely life of Mary Kay Letourneau and the young object of her obsession, the boy who fathered two of her children. You may think you know the story of Mary Kay Letourneau - but you don't know the whole story until you've heard If Loving You is Wrong.

Includes interviews with Mary Kay Letourneau.

©1999 Gregg Olsen (P)2013 Gregg Olsen

The best book I’ve listened to in awhile

I loved listening to this book. It kept my attention well and did a great job of retelling events while also being entertaining.

I give this book 3 stars for performance and story

I feal the boy was to young and it was wrong the boy was not even 16 teen and even a boy at 16 is like a boy at 12 or 14 and a boy at 12 or 14 is like a boy at 10 there's no way a boy at that age is matured to the point where he knows what he's getting into. just because a kid can conceive a baby at that age does not mean he's mentally ready for that he's still growing physically and mentally so there's no way that a boy at that age will know exactly what he wants or what he will want later on. women are more mature than men so you can only imagine the difference in the mind and the body they both were when I was 16 years old guys at 16 acted like babies I couldn't even relate to them that's how kiddish they were and a grown woman can actually look at a boy younger than 16 and say he's a man she's out of her mind. I believe that they both had feelings for each other but there's no possible way that a boy at that age will be thinking the same when he's a grown adult I'm a grown woman and still learning things about myself . I really do believe they have feelings for each other but that does not mean you go for it people can have attraction towards each other some people could be so sexually attracted to one another but that doesn't mean because you feel that way you should all the time go for that some things are better left unsaid and some things are better left as a fantasy even though I really think it's disturbing that a grown woman would fantasize about a little boy but I feel she should have kept those feelings to herself and not have done anything about it until he was old enough to realize what he wanted. he has not even lived life yet so many things he hasn't even done she let her emotions take over her brain and this is the consequence of it I'm not here to judge or point fingers but she knows deep down inside what she did was wrong she could have waited a couple of more years if she really thinks that they were meant to be together . legally he could not even take care of himself he could not lease his own apartment buy a car even get a job I don't know how she thought that it would be right for a kid to raise a kid I really think that she put a lot of fantasy and dreams in her head so much that she believed what she wanted to even though she knew it was wrong if they wind up together years later and he's a grown man and they wind up getting married and having more kids then this was a really weird case and I'm happy for them as adults if that does happen but I would not recommend for any woman to be with a little kid the way she did if you really love someone like you say you do yo wait a couple more years to see if it's meant to be and if you can't do that then you're not meant to be with them anyway.

Love Everlasting? I think not.

With the recent announcement of the breakdown of Mary Kay and Vili's marriage I decided to read Gregg Olsen's version of the original story. Out of all the crime writers I do feel that Gregg Olsen does give us the facts with less bias. And let us not get wrapped up with the fact that it was a CRIME and not some sweet romance.

Gregg Olsen gives us the story from day one. I found it a little convoluted however as his timeline skips from one decade then goes into a retrospective and back again. Can get a little confusing but that is what your fast forward and rewind is for I suppose.

Must admit that I did enjoy this book and Kathleen Godwin gave a great performance. Her gentle voice did, however lull me into feeling sorry for Mary Kay in so much that on a couple of occasions I had to tell myself to 'get a grip' and remind myself that Mary Kay was the perpetrator of a major crime!

An enjoyable read regardless of it's minor faults.

Love Gregg Olsen but not the narrator

I'm a huge fan of Gregg Olsen..that said, the voice and performance of the narrator can ruin it for me : (

Kept my attention

I would have given five stars but did not like all the negativity about the Seattle area -particularly in the beginning of the book. Comments about the smell of a beach south of Seattle and numerous other comments left me wondering if the author simply doesn’t like the area. Some comments seemed pretty off base. However, the book was well written, aside from that.

101 excuses for a pedophile!

The author was extremely sympathetic toward the pedophile subject/protaganist. He hould have done more "follow up" to update the book. Copyright is 1999; one update in 2004. Current audio production copyright 2013.

Amazing Story

highly recommended lots of life lessons.....
well researched....
interesting to see how everything unfolded and where everyone wanted up at

Untangled a frantic tale

Gregg Olsen untangles a frantic tale, and manages to do it without judgment. Another superb Olsen book. Narration is spot on.

If loving you is wrong

I read this book years ago and could not wait to listen to it (again) when it became available on audio! This is such a fascinating and crazy story, I just loved it and would highly recommend to anyone interested.

WHO AM I TO JUDGE?

Would you consider the audio edition of If Loving You Is Wrong to be better than the print version?

YES. YEARS AGO I RED THE PRINT VERSION. AUDIO IS ALWAYS BETTER FOR ME ANYWAY.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I FOUND NONE OF THEM THAT LIKEABLE. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW THIS CAN POSSIBLY BE. BUT I GUESS LOVE HAS NO BOUNDARIES.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

THE READER WAS CLEAR BUT I FELT THE READING HAD SOMETHING MISSING. LIKE THE READER WAS THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE WHEN SHE WAS READING THIS BOOK.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

TIDBIT? I REALLY WOULDN'T KNOW. ALL I KNOW IT IS SOME STORY.

Any additional comments?

I UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE NOW MARRIED A YEAR AND A HALF. AMAZING. WHO WOULD EVER HAVE THOUGHT IT WOULD EVER COME TO PASS.